Crawley (High Street) Level Crossing, West Sussex

Описание: Date filmed: Saturday the 19th of April 2025
Videos filmed between 14:21 and 14:36 / 15:27 and 15:42

Route: Arun Valley Line
Crawley (CRW) is the closest station

Crossing type: Manually Controlled Barrier crossing with CCTV (MCB-CCTV)

Filming location: A2219 Brighton Road, Crawley (RH10 1BJ)

A busy level crossing with high pedestrian and vehicular usage located just at the edge of the main town centre of Crawley, situated just south of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex. The level crossing typically sees about eight trains per hour in the off-peak, and is partially integrated with the traffic signals for a pedestrian crossing / road junction on one side, keeping motorists further back from the crossing except in times of heavy congestion. This level crossing has two loud alarms (one is slightly quieter as something is interfering with its sound output), very poorly-looking barriers given that they've only been in service for about eight years, and a total of 5 sets of LED wigwags. The 'bunk' pair of wigwags are the newest on the crossing due to the need to replace one of the former sets for excessive damage caused by being struck by taller vehicles, and given this it seems surprising no authorisation has been given to have the lower set of lights 'portrait oriented' and thinner.

Effectively two sets of videos feature in one here, as about 50 minutes separated the second and third lowerings I filmed here. Time was spent visiting the volunteer-run and preserved signal box right beside the crossing, a signalling museum in a former signal box which has a few opening days per year, and it's well worth a visit in my personal opinion! A picture I took from up there of one of the Thameslink Trains that passed is featured at the very end of this video, and I saw the crossing activate loads of times from above.

Trains featured:
Lowering 1 (0:00):
1) 377 188, 377 472 & 377 204 (Southern) - 1:50
1C34 London Victoria ➡ Portsmouth Harbour | 4 minutes late

2) 377 138, 377 434 & 377 423 (Southern) - 2:45
1B37 Bognor Regis ➡ London Victoria | On-time
-
Lowering 2 (3:42):
700 154 (Thameslink) - 5:22
9J44 Horsham ➡ Peterborough | On-time
-
Lowering 3 (6:18):
1) 700 138 (Thameslink) - 7:40
9J35 Peterborough ➡ Horsham | 2 minutes late

2) 377 437, 377 141 & 377 107 (Southern) - 8:25
1B31 Bognor Regis & Portsmouth Harbour ➡ London Victoria | 3 minutes late
-
Lowering 4 (9:07)
700 127 (Thameslink) - 10:54
9J48 Horsham ➡ Peterborough | 1 minute late
-
Lowering 5 (11:38):
377 446 Empty Coaching Stock (Southern) - 12:55
Unknown
-
End-of-video picture showcase: 13:25

Train details sourced from:
Real Time Trains: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear...
Open Train Times: https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps
Traksy: https://traksy.uk/live

Filmed on: Panasonic HC-VX1 in 4K, 25fps

Thanks for watching!